By now, nearly four years into Bharatiya Janata Party's rule, Karnataka should have been inured to scandals. Illegal mining, land-grabbing, embezzlement and sleaze have become so commonplace that it takes much more than a garden-variety scandal to attract attention here. Three honourable ministers contrived to do just that.

Laxman Savadi, CC Patil and Krishna Palemar, all middle-aged men in seemingly happy marriages, are now just honourable MLAs, gracefully resigning their ministerial posts less than a day after they were caught watching a pornographic clip in the assembly.

Playing to the Gallery...

On Wednesday, the usually empty visitor galleries at the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of government, were packed to the rafters: public-spirited citizens gathered in large numbers looking forward to an engrossing discussion about the act of moral turpitude by the ministers.

They were also there because the gallery was the perch from which the cameraman for a local TV channel invaded into the privacy of the three honourable ministers on Tuesday. This time, all the honourable MLAs kept their mobile phones in their pockets.

"Savadi kept looking down at his mobile and up towards the gallery, making me wonder why he was doing so. That is when I decided to zoom in on him," said Srinivas Kulkarni of TV9. And then he had his gotcha moment.

Before he decided to resign, Savadi, who was the honourable minister for cooperation, decided to adopt the mien of a schoolboy. The porn clip, he argued, was merely educational material to prepare him for a discussion in the Assembly about another scandal: a rave party complete with sex and booze organised by the state's tourism department.

Being from the BJP, which has historically placed a premium on morality and ethics, his innocence was such that he knew nothing about the sinful events that take place at rave parties.

...And His Colleague

But being a studious legislator, he was duty-bound to learn, and help was at hand in the form of his honourable colleague, the minister of ports, Krishna Palemar, whose mobile phone contained the educational material. Patil, the honourable minister, good heavens, for women and child development, took his lessons too by peeping into the mobile phone.

It is all well for the honourable ministers to show such studiousness. But there are better places to do homework, and there are better ways to do it too. The BJP, by removing them from their jobs, has shown alacrity, but that is only making a virtue out of a necessity.

While it is usually hard to find proof of lack of probity, Savadi and his friends have shown that there are multiple ways in which people can get exposed.

Back-stopping Help

Before Savadi resigned on Wednesday morning, he went into a huddle with his friend M P Renukacharya, who is also the honourable excise minister, with experience in handling sleaze scandals. A couple of years ago, a nurse released pictures of herself and the honourable minister in close physical contact and accused him of sexually harassing her.

Another former minister, Haratalu Halappa, who resigned in 2010 after he was accused of raping his friend's wife, is out on bail now, but not yet back in the BJP government.

Friends Across Party

In the more rational sections of the Congress, there has been more soul-searching and less jubilation about the conduct of the three men. Krishna Byre Gowda, a Congress MLA, who prefers to spend time outside the state because of the levels to which politics has sunk in Karnataka, was philosophical about the latest scandal.

"There is a severe decline in the quality of leadership. Maybe there is also a severe decline in the quality of people." Savadi and his colleagues can take heart from the experiences of their fellow politicians in the BJP. As well as the Congress.

N D Tiwari left Raj Bhavan in Andhra Pradesh in 2009 after a video clip showed the then 80-year-old in a compromising position with young girls. He is now a star campaigner for the Congress in Uttarakhand. Who knows, in a few days he may even be chief minister.